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Cowgirl Blog Primary Election Predictions

Here are my predictions for the most important races in the primary, the state legislative races.

While some bloggers have chosen to focus on the races that Lee Newspapers once deemed important, the real question on everyone’s mind is who will prevail tomorrow night- the TEA Party extremists or the main street republicans. Nowhere is this battle for the GOP hotter than where incumbents face challengers – from the left and from the right.

These are among the key bellwether races to watch tomorrow night.

Certainly I’ll also be watching what happens with the TEA Party’s fake Trojan horse dems, and what happens in primaries with MT Family Foundation recruits like Debra Lamm in Livingston, Marissa Stockton in East Helena, and Ronalee Skees vs. Frank Garner is the Flathead. The Flathead has several interesting legislative races to watch actually.

The Missoula County Sheriff’s race, where two fake democrats are running against T.J. McDermott, is important. Tim Ravndal is running for County Commissioner in Broadwater County, which is frightening. Another race to watch for those seeking to take the TEA Party’s pulse is the Gallatin County Commission race, where Don Seifert faces TEA Partier Barb Blum (backed by Roger Koopman).

Let me know if you agree or disagree and what other races you’re watching in the comments.

TEA Party wingut Rep. Sarah Laszloffy, age 20 of Laurel, who attended a school which teaches you how to bring people back from the dead. No Joke. TEApublican Rep. Sarah Laszloffy is an alum of the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. (She’s also the daughter of MT Family Foundation wackjob Jeff Laszloffy) vs. former long-time legislator Mark Noennig, well respected by the business community. Prediction: Toss-up. Noennig can win this and voters would be much better represented by him, but papa bear Laszloffy is likely to pull out all the stops to keep his pawn daughter in office.

HD 71

In Madison County, Rep. Ray Shaw vs. Birther Bob Wagner, a former Representative infamous for losing economic development for his district and making an ass of himself on national television. Voters already ousted Wagner in favor of Shaw once. Prediction: Shaw

Rep. Mike Miller vs. Patrick Johnson/Ron Vandevendor. Prediction: Miller, since not enough Montanans will have heard of his political practices shennanigans. Miller is being challenged from the left by Patrick Johnson. If Miller is elected, the primary election won’t actually decided the final outcome, because Miller faces being thrown off the ballot for political practices violations. So does Art Wittich, and so do others.

HD 92

David “Doc” Moore of Missoula vs. Larry Dunham Prediction: Moore

HD 93

Rep. Dan Salomon of Ronan vs. challenger Frank Delgado. Frank Delgado is a responsible Main Street republican challenging GOPer Salomon from the left in a seat the dems will likely take back in November. Prediction: Salomon

Former Kalispell Mayor Tammy Fisher vs. Rep. Mark Blasdel of Kalispell. The race is hotly contested. Prediction: Blasdel is an inferior pick and a right-winger and Fisher is a pro-business Republican, but the power of incumbency is strong. Blasdel has raised more money. This is an open seat. However, Blasdel was an extreme right legislative leader in the house last session, and faces a primary from the more rational wing of the party. Would love to be wrong on this one.

Anti-education lobbyist Rep. Kris Hansen of Havre is now running for Senate against Carl Mattson of Chester. Mattson is the superior candidate. He doesn’t favor using your tax dollars to subsidize private sectarian schools. Hansen has been paid to promote that terrible idea. Prediction: Hansen

Right-winger birther Rep. Joanne Blyton of Red Lodge vs. Ultra nutjob and imbecile extraordinaire Rep. David Howard. Howard is a man who has, somewhat obsessively, devoted his Facebook page to criticizing gay sex. So of course, the GOP picked to lead the Children and Families legislative committee last session. Howard will face off against Red Lodge Republican Joanne Blyton. Blyton is a birther who actually voted for Birther Bob’s birther bill. (You can see a pdf of HB 205, the birther bill, vote here.) Yes, that’s the same bill that later made the Montana Legislature famous on CNN. Prediction: Tossup. This is also an open seat, but is included here because both Blyton and Howard served in the House.

SD 34

Rep. Gordon Vance vs. Rep. Ted Washburn both of Bozeman. One of the most bloody GOP primary battles of the year. Gordon Vance is the TEA Party nutjob who vote to conduct all state business in gold. Vance and is trying to brutally attack paint Washburn as a liberal and RINO. Problem is, Washburn is anything but. Washburn is under investigation for having been caught up in the Meth House Scandal, in which documents found at a meth house in Colorado were found to implicate certain GOP lawmakers for illegally coordinating with a dark money group, the American Tradition Partnership. Washburn also is the author of the famous bill to legalize hunting with silencers. It made the venerated2011 Montana Nutjob Bills list first published at Cowgirl Blog, and Washburn brought back the bill in 2013. Washburn has also called for what is essentially a poll tax, a bill that would allow only taxpayers to vote (poor people often don’t have a taxable income, nor, for that matter, do many farmers and ranchers). And he has often been the lead sponsor of bills that would make it more difficult for people to register to vote, especially if those people are likely to be democrats. Prediction: Tossup

SD 43

Sen. Scott Boulanger of Darby (appointed, not elected) vs. Rep. Pat Connell.Sen. Scott Boulanger R-Darby loves being pictured with the infamous bullet-ridden Obama outhouse. He’s running in a GOP primary against Rep. Pat Connell. Boulanger was one of ten Republicans who actually voted to take freedoms away from Montanans by keeping being gay an imprisonable offense in Montana. Voters in the area have already picked Pat Connell over Boulanger once before, when Boulanger ran for house in 2012. Boulanger lost, and the only reason he’s in office now is because he was appointed by the Ravalli County Republican Central Committee after another legislator was elected to the Public Service Commission. Prediction: Connell

SD 27

Another open seat where a right winger from the House faces a pro-business wing challenger. TEA Partier Cary Smith of Billings faces former legislator and dentist Don Roberts. Prediction: Tossup

Because of the hotly contested Republican congressional primary, we’re likely to see more Republicans turn out to vote tomorrow than dems. What will be the impact of this, besides uninformed reporters claiming that the Repubs have more support that is.

What’s going on in Ravalli County with the commissioner’s race is also important. TEA Partier Suzy Foss is on the ballot. She faces not one but TWO GOP primary challengers after she recommended the Valerie Stamey woman who lost nearly a million in county funds.

90% of politics is power of suggestion, and I’m seeing suggestions now that the Tea Party is not cool anymore, meaning it will soon be out of business.

It’s only purpose was to provide political cover for right wing neocon Obama, suggested to us to be a liberal but who shows few signs of that, and who will also soon enough be out of business, so it makes sense.

We find that President Obama is the most ideologically moderate Democratic president in the post-war period, with a first dimension DW-NOMINATE Common Space score of -0.329. President Lyndon Johnson, the second-most moderate Democratic president in this period, has a score of -0.345. President Obama’s ideological position is estimated from his “votes” (statements of support or opposition) on 282 congressional roll call votes. This amount is somewhat low; for example, President George W. Bush “voted” 453 times during his last term in office. However, it is adequate to recover his latent ideological score.

Whoosh! It is only by power of suggestion that you view Obama as a “moderate.” Voting records are meaningless, easily managed by office holders to project any image of themselves they want. That’s politics for lightweights. You must watch actual deeds. All of the dead and aggrieved people of Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the vanquished souls suffering violent coup d’état in Ukraine, those who were promised a public option here, net neutrality, the end of Guantanamo and the regime of torture, who have been betrayed at every turn ..

Interesting predictions, pretty much along the same lines of how Eric Feaver instructed his folks to vote too. Lets just hope if these folks come through their primaries that the left doesn’t demonized them in the general as being too far to the right to convince voters to vote for the democrats, but I think that’s wishful thinking.

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